Loss Prevention Officer Stabbed

A brave LP officer in Roseville Michigan was stabbed with a dirty syringe while confronting a shoplifter. The altercation occurred at a Home Depot store that employs a Sensormatic security system. The LP officer attempted to prevent the theft of a battery powered drill. Reportedly a customer with a concealed weapons permit drew his weapon and forced the shoplifter to surrender. The assailant is now in state custody.

Online training in LP...

You can now learn the skills you will need to become a loss prevention professional with the help of an online course. ICDC College has launched it's first online loss prevention class. The continuing education class teaches students about, shrinkage, shoplifting, investigation techniques, and more. Loss prevention is a field with ever growing demands for capable personnel.

County Constable Pleads Not Guilty...

A county constable has plead not guilty to assault after shooting a shoplifter outside of a Walmart. Constable David Whitlock apparently shot the shoplifter as she attempted to flee the scene. A visible security tag system may have dissuaded the shoplifter from ever attempting to steal that day. Anti shoplifting pedestals can prevent your salespeople and security guards from getting into tough situations. Pedestal based Checkpoint and Sensormatic towers are a good way to head off legal actions before they start.

The Tide of Shoplifting...

The tidal wave of shoplifting that has washed over CVS stores has caused the retailer to security tag their bottles of Tide detergent. There was a report of a man in Minnesota shoplifting over $20,000 worth of Tide. Tide is a recognizable brand, making it easy to resell on the black market. Tide is a high quality product that consumers want. The economic times have made Tide, which can sell for $20 a bottle, an item that retailers must really protect. CVS is embracing anti-shoplifting loss prevention measures to stop the bleeding. Many retailers do not use security tags on their home cleaning products. As a result people are confident and bold when it comes to stealing these products. Unprotected products are an invitation to theft.

How much do shoplifters steal...

In the case of Gene Bunch shoplifting cost retailers a whole "bunch". The 39 year old Tulsa native was arrested for shoplifting $2,385.52 worth of merchandise from six different retailers. He is currently on parole after serving over two years in prison for shoplifting. Stacy Gene Bunch is a well known shoplifter int the Tulsa area for good reason. He has cost local business people thousands and possibly tens of thousands of dollars. He was caught stealing over $2,000, which makes you wonder how much he has stolen that is not known. My guess would be at least ten times that amount. The math in this case makes the need for a security tag system obvious. One shoplifter fresh out of prison for retail related crimes immediately went back to stealing and cost local merchants thousands. Having a visible security tag system in many cases will be enough to send criminals like Bunch looking for another venue to shoplift. Why steal from a store with a Sensormatic or Checkpoint system when there are other retailers that are more vulnerable. The Gene Bunch's of the world are always looking for the easiest target. Having a retail security tag system makes a store less likely to be shoplifted from.

Retail Security Tag Evaluation...

The UFO security tag has been around for a while. Let's evaluate it.

Technology: Typically a UFO tag is an 8.2 Megahertz radio frequency tag. It is also commonly available in 1.8 Megahertz.

Effectiveness: Due to its large size the UFO tag has an excellent "pick rate" with all properly installed RF security systems.

Difficulty to defeat: With a cone pin the UFO tag is much more difficult to defeat than a mini hard tag or large hard tag. The UFO tag is one of the most trustworthy RF tags on the market.

Style: It has a traditional round security tag look that lets shoplifters know exactly what it is so they will be deterred from attempting theft.

Overall: Reliable and effective. One of the better RF tags when used with a cone pin.

RFID is coming...

This is just a graphical taste of what is coming. RFID promises to be vastly more than what is shown in the above illustration, but this is a good example of where it was over the past couple of years. I would compare this to the period of time when people used dial up to get online. RFID will be everywhere before you know it.